Film, Animation and Digital Arts MA

What you will study

Setting us apart from other digital arts courses and animation masters, our programme is primarily practice-oriented, backed up with a relevant and robust contextual framework. The programme is 12 months long, split across two semesters and the University’s summer period.

Semester 1 includes a set of focused workshops designed not only to consolidate existing practical skills in script development, film production, animation, CG and VFX but also to bring you rapidly up to speed in less familiar areas such as virtual production, game engines, and digital cinematography. These are accompanied by a thorough grounding in contemporary moving image theory and practice. You will then work on a collaborative, multidisciplinary production project, which provides a great opportunity to work together in a small team on an exciting creative brief.

In Semester 2 you will develop a creative specification for your final project. Alongside this, specialist workshops and tutorials are offered to equip you with any specific techniques you might need.

During the University’s summer period, you will complete your final project, with regular supervision and mentoring provided by our academics, industry based visiting tutors and associates.

Location and connections

Our Guildford location is not only a short train journey from central London but is also a media production hub in its own right. Major film studios are nearby, and the town itself is home to a vibrant video games development community, alongside animation houses and design agencies. Notable players include:

• Supermassive
• MediaMolecule
• Electronic Arts
• Figment Productions
• BlueGFX
• Criterion.

We regularly enjoy visits and engagements with the London film production and VFX community, which includes:

• Framestore
• Moving Picture Company
• Blue Zoo
• Nexus
• Milk VFX
• KeyFrame Studios.

We also maintain close links with the British Film Institute, BAFTA, Animation UK, Visual Effects Society, SIGGRAPH London, UKIE and plenty of other important industry networks with whom you can connect.

On campus, we share a building and frequently collaborate with the prestigious Guildford School of Acting. We also work closely with colleagues from Surrey’s engineering programmes and have found touch points in many other departments across the University. In addition to this, we are actively building relationships with other institutions both close at hand and around the world; our approach is one of open collaboration wherever possible across all sections of the arts, culture and technology communities.

IELTS Academic: 6.5 overall with 6.0 in each element.

These are the English language qualifications and levels that we can accept.

If you do not currently meet the level required for your programme, we offer intensive pre-sessional English language courses, designed to take you to the level of English ability and skill required for your studies here.